I've had many variants of this conversation over the years, but it is relatively rare to get one in which you actually explicitly say 'black' upfront and still have to insist later...
I remember changing trains on a way to a conference with Professor Luckhurst and picking up his large black coffee rather than my large black coffee. I think both of us were offered milk in them. I don't recall being offered milk for long blacks in Oz.
A friend put milk in my coffee the other week after I'd specified black. "How much milk do you want in it?" I settled for khaki, because clearly anything less Did Not Compute.
At the opposite extreme is the aunt for whom coffee with milk means boiling up both the water and the milk, and probably the coffee and three sugars. It was fine when I was four, but I've got more bitter in my tastes since then.
Yes I have to fight to stop people helpfully putting milk in my tea.
The only way my mother-in-law can cope is by talking aloud through the whole process and then checking that it's ok. Trust me, as long as it hasn't got milk in, it's ok.
I've also found that 'long black' in Australia usually settles the matter. I've long thought they have a sensible system for describing coffee.
I'm convinced that coffee at the EU in Brussels was made by boiling evaporated milk with coffee essence. Everyone in the UK delegation of my era (mid '90s) wanted it black, which confused them completely because they'd all been expecting we'd actually want tea.
Reply
A friend put milk in my coffee the other week after I'd specified black. "How much milk do you want in it?" I settled for khaki, because clearly anything less Did Not Compute.
At the opposite extreme is the aunt for whom coffee with milk means boiling up both the water and the milk, and probably the coffee and three sugars. It was fine when I was four, but I've got more bitter in my tastes since then.
Reply
The only way my mother-in-law can cope is by talking aloud through the whole process and then checking that it's ok. Trust me, as long as it hasn't got milk in, it's ok.
Reply
I'm convinced that coffee at the EU in Brussels was made by boiling evaporated milk with coffee essence. Everyone in the UK delegation of my era (mid '90s) wanted it black, which confused them completely because they'd all been expecting we'd actually want tea.
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment